Employs 12,032 spes recipients DOLE readies students for future job prospects

CEBU, Philippines - With the country’s labor market becoming more competitive, student employment has also become a necessity to prepare the youth for the world of work and to improve their marketability to employers after graduation.

Students in college must gain work experience and new skills as much as possible while studying because this will help them acquire references for future job opportunities, said Chona M. Mantilla, regional director of the Department of Labor and Employment region 7.

Mantilla believes job preparation should start at the moment students enroll in college and not after graduation saying, “If they have studied well and have prepared for the world of work they have an edge sa kadtong nagbinuang (over those who have neglected their studies).”

Work-study aid

The DOLE has a Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES) that aims to help poor students, including drop-outs, to partly pay for their education by giving them jobs, which is also intended to provide students with work experience before they even graduate.

Mantilla noted the work-study does not mean students are paid to study but is helping them pay the school’s expenses by working.

The department pays the 60% of the minimum wages paid to those eligible student workers. And the employer pays the remaining 40%.

It works with the local government, academe and the private (business) sector in providing decent job opportunities for 15 to maximum of 52 working days.

With the help of the city’s Public Employment Service Office, the agency is employing this year a total of 12,032 qualified beneficiaries. Some of them are now working and others have already committed to work.

“LGU is the main employer,” Mantilla told The FREEMAN. “So, we encourage more from the private sector. We have partnered with fast food chains already.”

The director explained the students can actually work any time of the year but summer is the program’s peak period.

‘Not enough’

A business economics professor in Cebu said early employment of students is an advantage to the economy as it reduces the country’s dependency ratio and give also the youth diverse learning opportunities. 

Dr. Juanito B. Aliño, Jr. said that although SPES has helped its beneficiaries in paying school fees, it is just insufficient and a short-term program.

“Gihatagan sila og trabaho and so they can produce goods and services,” Aliño said to The FREEMAN. “They are able to help the country. But the point is to what extent they can contribute to the economy if they are not paid already?”

He also stressed that even without government help, the youth can actually use their human capital to make money and eventually build business.

Many of the youth are creative and idealistic, capable of raising funds by using their talents and skills, he added.

Aliño also mentioned the role of parents in empowering the youth, saying a family should produce good children who later on become good citizens.

“Good citizens will make good employers who are big part of the development of our country,” she said.

Meanwhile, Business Administration major Jasmine D. Lascoña, a student worker in a college office, shared being an office clerk for more than three years has taught her a lot of skills such as telephone etiquette, encoding documents, office decision making and other clerical jobs.

Lascoña, 19, has been exposed to the working environment and various attitudes of office heads and bosses.

She added that the experience you’ve had while working during college will prepare you for the real world, hence you will no longer fear of what awaits you in the real workplace.